About

Garras Mas Finas aka "The Finest Rags"

The idea of screen printing graphics onto clothes has been by far one of the most impactful moments of fashion in the US. Having the ability to have your clothes quite literally speak for you has been a pivotal role in shaping urban culture when it comes to expressing oneself.

This website aims at archiving a style of clothes that has been worn by many and does not have a distinct name for what it is. Some may call them Lowrider Shirts, Chicano Art Shirts, Mexican American Shirts, Swap Meet Shirts, Bootleg Shirts, Prison Art Shirts, Gangster Shirts, Homie Shirts, and even GARRAS. The list to what they can be called is endless, as is the amount of clothes that is out there with this distinct art style.

The idea of graphic shirts goes way back but for the Mexican-American communities around the US, it became a major way to express yourself and represent where you come from with pride. For the sake of labeling, we can refer to this style of clothes as "Garras".

Some of the first Garras in Mexican-American communities were used by car clubs, gangs and local musical acts from around the 50s-60s. In the mid-60s Mexican-Americans began labeling themselves as "Chicanos", during this time Lowrider culture was still gaining popularity and prison art started to make its way out of prisons. When the 70s hit the introduction of Lowrider magazine elevates the art coming out of different barrios & prisons in the US, primarily in states like California, New Mexico, Arizona & Texas. It becames a platform for Chicanos to show off and express their lifestyle through cars, fashion, art and music. Around this time David Gonzales, a prominent figure with some of the earliest Chicano Art garras, begins putting his art on shirts and selling them at swap meets. His shirts became some of the first physical Chicano art pieces that you could wear. Eventually other artists/collectives began releasing their own Garras.